SIR JOHN FROISSART
Chronicles of England, France, Spain and the adjoining countries
from the latter part of the reign of Edward II to the coronation of Henry IV. Vol.2
page 403

and that it would lie a very meritorious a£t to de-ftroy them all: to which propofition every one affented, as a truth, and added, fhame befal him that fhould be the means of preventing the gentler men from being wholly deftroyed.
They then, without further council, collected themfelves in a body, and with no other arms than the ftaves fhod with iron, which fome had, and others with knives, marched to the houfe of a knight who lived near, and breaking it open, mur-dered the knight, his lady and all the children, both great and fmall ; they then burnt the houfe.
After this, their fécond expedition was to the ftrong caftie of another knight, which they took, ,and, having tied him to a flake, many of them violated his wife and daughter before his eyes: they then murdered the lady, her daughter and the other children, and laft of all the knight him-felf, with much cruelty. They deftroyed and burnt his caftie.
• They did the like to many caftles and handfome houfes ; and, their numbers increafed fo much, that they were in a fhort time upwards ôf fix thou-fand : wherever they went, they received additions, for all of their rank in life followed them, whilft every one elfe fled, carrying off with them their ladies, damfels, and children ten or twenty leagues diftant, where they thought they could place them in fecurity, leaving their houfes, with all their riches in them.
Thefe wicked people, without leader and with-out arms, plundered and burnt all the houfes they
] came
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